I fear the budget will be a case of "A lot done. More to do". It is certain the supports for SMEs will not be enough to prevent a wave of insolvencies and redundancies in the coming months. I have brought the case of one manufacturing business to both the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. It employs 45 people in the south east. Its production processes use both gas and electricity in both heating and cooling procedures. Its energy bill has rocketed from €8,000 per month to €45,000 per month and the owner sees the writing on the wall. He has told me that the second-last thing he wishes is for his business to close. The last thing he wishes is for him and his family to go broke. The supports on offer to him as they stand are not adequate for his business to remain operational, offering wide employment and viable. His situation is not unique. I ask that the Taoiseach convene a business task force to study this unfolding crisis in the SME sector. Will the Government examine an enduring temporary lay-off scheme in the mode of the Covid employment wage subsidy scheme or perhaps even a more aggressive and ambitious renewal or retrofit scheme for SMEs? Can we look to segment the energy supports to ensure agrifood producers that consume huge amounts of energy through production can be additionally supported? Something needs to be done.

I am conscious this may be one of my final exchanges with the Taoiseach before he leaves the position. I draw his attention to the inequity of the continued resourcing of the Western Development Commission, WDC, versus other regions. The west is now awake and is one of the strongest-performing regions of Ireland. The midlands, Border and south-east regions are the economic laggards. To thrive and deliver on the programme for Government's aspirations around balanced regional development, these regions need the strategic regional thinking and resourcing the WDC has delivered to the west for a generation. I look at the miserly outturn of capital spending as a case in point. As the State plans to spend €10.8 billion on capital projects next year, there is a paltry amount due to be spent on strategic projects in the south-east, Border and midlands regions. These regions need a form of conceptual thinking, with strategy development based on the deep applied research and regional cohesion the WDC-type structure offers. It is indefensible to me and to many others that we see continuing funding of the WDC while other regions that need these resources are deprived and so badly ignored.

I thank the Deputy for raising the twin issues of south-east economic and enterprise development and the issue around business supports in the current energy crisis. The Government is introducing a temporary business energy support scheme as announced by the Minister for Finance in the budget. That scheme will be open to businesses that carry on a case 1 trade, are tax-compliant and have experienced a significant increase in their natural gas and electricity costs. As the Deputy knows, it will be administered by the Revenue Commissioners and operate on a self-assessment basis. Businesses will be required to register for the scheme. It is proposed the scheme will operate by comparing the average unit price for the relevant bill period in 2022 with the average unit price in the corresponding reference period in 2021. Once eligibility criteria are met the support will be calculated on the basis of 40% of the amount of the increase in the bill amount. In addition to that, a monthly cap of €10,000 per trade will apply and an overall cap will apply on the total amount a business can claim. The scheme is designed to be compliant with the EU state aid temporary crisis framework and will need approval by the Commission.

There is a range of other business supports. I do not know whether the company to which the Deputy referred would come under the Enterprise Ireland scheme, namely, the €200 million targeted Ukraine enterprise crisis scheme to assist viable but vulnerable manufacturers and exporters. There is a €1.2 billion State-backed Ukraine credit guarantee scheme for SMEs, primary producers and small mid-cap businesses with fewer than 500 employees. There is a new growth and sustainability investment loan scheme and then €4 million has gone to the local enterprise office network, to include a new capital grant for microenterprise for energy efficiency and so forth.

On the comparison between the south east and the WDC, employment in the south east has grown by 8.6% in the last year. That is from quarter 2 of 2021 to quarter 2 of 2022 and covers counties Carlow, Kilkenny, Waterford and Wexford. There are now 79 IDA Ireland client companies in the south east employing about 15,000 people. In June the sod was turned on the Glanbia and Royal A-Ware €200 million continental cheese facility at Belview. That strategically important national project will support the incomes of over 4,500 family farms and create 80 jobs and 400 construction jobs in the south east. More than 6,000 people are employed in around 100 Enterprise Ireland client-based companies in County Waterford and the local enterprise office also supports 1,000 jobs. The Deputy knows there have been very significant investments announced in the last two years on the IDA Ireland front. Eirgen is investing €12 million in its manufacturing facilities in Waterford City. Bausch + Lomb announced investment of €90 million to expand its manufacturing operations in Waterford in July 2021. Infosys announced 250 jobs and a state-of-the-art delivery centre. PublicRelay, a US communications and analytics firm, is also establishing in Waterford. I will come back to the Deputy on the supplementary.

I gave a range of metrics at the enterprise committee this morning on the real performance of the south east. I have not got the time to go through them here but, unfortunately, they do not tally with what the Taoiseach has just described. The supports the Government is offering to the SME sector in particular are not enough. A lot has been done, as I said, but it will not be enough to hold back the wave of insolvencies and redundancies over what is essentially a geopolitical issue that is going to take out good competitive businesses. Their employees are going to be the victims also.

On the WDC, its job is largely done. I am not looking to see it scrapped but for something that has been really successful brought into play in other regions. Some of the problems that are outlined in relation to the Border have to do with regional issues around there but we must look at this. This morning I asked the Tánaiste if he would consider this and he has opened the door to doing so. This needs to be done.

If we are to put regions on par, we must have similar bodies to support their economic and policy development into the future.

A regional enterprise plan for the south east has been put in place. We need to analyse more deeply the factors that give rise to the growth in given regions. The medtech cluster in the west probably has been one of the more significant developments. It is based largely on research and development in the University of Galway and it also connects down to the mid-west with the University of Limerick. The South East Technological University is key.

The funding is key.

It has been key. I accept that historically there has been an issue with different regions progressing at different levels. What I have announced is very significant foreign direct investment in Waterford and the south east more generally. That will grow. Horizon Therapeutics has recently announced 350 jobs, as the Deputy knows. All of those matter and will have impact. As we expand the South East Technological University, it will have a key role to play on the enterprise side. There is infrastructure and it has been allocated through the urban regeneration and development fund, URDF, and so forth. I know there have been issues on the private sector side, which was not the fault of the State. That funding is still in place for the local authority in Waterford and for the region generally. A regional steering committee has been formed to implement the regional enterprise plan. We need to be careful we do not just keep creating more and more bodies rather than analysing factors that would give rise to continued growth and development in Waterford. I would be open to having that analysis. Different approaches work for different regions.

I will take up the Taoiseach on that.